Method of producing tubes from sheet metal blanks on mill

ABSTRACT

A method of producing tubes from sheet metal blanks on a mill comprising the steps of: feeding said blanks in a sequence; measuring the length of each sheet metal blank; leaving the pairs composed of the blanks approximate in length in the sequence by removing from the sequence the unpaired blanks, ensuring pairing of the blanks removed from the sequence but meeting the pre-set limits as to their difference in length. Following that the known treatment of the edges being welded is performed, alternate forming of each sheet metal blank assembly in pairs and welding of said blanks into tubes with subsequent trimming of the tube ends.

United States Patent Vernik et al.

[ METHOD OF PRODUCING TUBES FROM SHEET METAL BLANKS ON MILL [22] Filed:

[21] Appl. No.1,

Inventors: Alexandr Borisovich Vernik,

prospekt Lenina, 30/13, kv. 54; Viktor Fedorovich Listkov, ulitsa Pobedy, 20, korpus 2, kv. 20; Boris Pavlovich Skorupsky, prospekt Lenina, 20, kv. 20; Mark Izrailevich Grinshpun, ulitsa Pushkina, 4, kv. 21; Petr Iosifovich Tetelbaum, prospekt Lenina, 20A, kv. 45, all of Elektrostal, Moskovskoi oblasti; Anatoly Sergeevich Tyrtov, Noginsky raion, derevnya babeevo, 14, Moskovskaya oblasti; Vladimir Petrovich Konyaev, ulitsa Pushkina, 31, kv. 39, Elektrostal, Moskovskoi oblasti; Ivan Petrovich Afanasiev, ulitsa Sovetskaya, 2/102, kv. 62, Elektrostal, Moskovskoi oblasti;

Igor Illarionovich Kazakevich,

prospekt Lenina, 28, kv. 44, Elektrostal, Moskovskoi oblasti; Pavel Nikitovich Kalinushkin, ulitsa Kirova, 8, kv. 17, Dnepropetrovsk; Ivan Ivanovich Andreev, ulitsa Mechnikova, 3', kv. 2, Khartsyzsk, Donetskoi oblasti; Alexandr Alexandrovich Sukhanov, prospekt Lenina, 10A, kv. 67, Elektrostal, Moskovskoi oblasti, all of USSR.

Primary Examiner--C. W. Lanham Assistant ExaminerVictor A. DiPalma 57 I ABSTRACT A method of producing tubes from sheet metal blanks on a mill comprising the steps of: feeding said blanks in a sequence; measuring the length of each sheet I 'metal blank; leaving the pairs composed of the blanks approximate in length in the sequence by removing from the sequence the unpaired blanks, ensuring pairing of the blanks removed from the sequence but meeting the preset limits as to their difference in length. Following that the known treatment of the edges being welded is performed, alternate forming of each sheet metal blank assembly in pairs and welding of said blanks into tubes with subsequent trimming of the tube ends.

3 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures 1 METHOD OF PR )'DUCIN(R TUBES FROM SHEET METAL BLANKS ()N MILL The present invention relates to methods for manw facturing tubes from sheet metal blanks on mills.

Known in the art is a method ofproducing tubes from sheet metal blanks on a mill comprising the steps of: feeding the blanks toth-e mill in a sequence: treating the edges to be welded of each blank, the alternate forming of each blank: assembling in pairs the formed blanks delivered one after another; welding each pair of the blanks into a tube and trimming a projecting part on the end face of each tube being produced.

To date the sheet metal blanks supplied from a store are not subject to preliminary measurement of their length, being thereby paired as they are delivered to the mill, in which case one blank in the pair may be longer than the other one by 600 mm. Upon manufacturing the tube, the longer blank is cut to the length of its shorter counterpart in a given pair.

As the production of the tubes is developed, waste metal figures increase as well, and the above-described method of manufacturing tubes becomes economically unpractical.

As a result, a large amount of waste metal is pro- (luced with each tube fabricated on the mill being on the average shorter by 300 mm than it could have been where the blanks are selected to suit the length.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide a method of producing tubes from sheet metal blanks which would be economically more practical than the known similar procedures.

Another important object of the invention is to reduce metal consumption for the manufacture of tubes of large diameters.

Yet another object of this invention is the production of longer. on the average, tubes.

Said and other objects are accomplished by the provision of a method of producing tubes from sheet metal blanks on a mill, comprising the following steps: feeding said blanks in a sequence for treating their edges being welded and alternate forming of each sheet metal blank: assembly in pairs and welding of said blanks into tubes with the ensuring trimming of tube ends, wherein, according to the invention, the length of each sheet metal blank is measured in the sequence. leaving in the sequence the pairs composed of the blanks approximate in length and removing from the sequence the unpaired blanks of which pairs of the blanks approximate in length are then selected to be fed into the sequence one after another.

The method secures the most expedient use of the metal supplied for the fabrication of the tubes.

This results in a reduction in waste metal (trimmings), and the length of the tubes being produced from one and the same amount of the metal can be ex tended on the average.

It is expedient that the sheet metal blanks be assumed to be approximate in length if the difference in the length of the paired blanks does not exceed mm.

This offers a substantial reduction in the consumption of the sheet metal blanks for the fabrication of the tubes.

It is desirable that the unpaired sheet metal blanks being separated out of the sequence be placed edgewise and located on the either side of the longitudinal axis of the mill.

As a result, savings can be achieved in both the floor space for laying the blanks separated out of the sequence and in time, needed to return them into the sequence when compiling the pairs.

The invention is further exemplified by a detailed description of a specific embodiment thereof, to be had in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. wherein:

FIG. 1 is a layout of a mill with the sections wherein the operations envisaged by the method of producing tubes from sheet metal blanks are being performed in succession;

FIG. 2 shows a travelling-down tilter which is a carriage with a tilter adapted for distributing unpaired blanks among storage cells and subsequent reception of the blanks approximate in length to be fed in pairs to the mill.

The herein-disclosed method is accomplished as follows.

Sheet metal blanks l are supplied one after another, regardless of their length, from a store (not shown in the drawings) and positioned horizontally on a roll table 2 ofa mill. The length of each blank 1, being conveyed by the roll table 2, is measured by a measuring device 3 and memorized by an electronic computer 4 which sends a signal to a first carriage 5 (FIG. 2) with a tilter 6, travelling along guides 7, to deliver each of the blanks 1 supplied to the carriage 5 from the roll table 2 into one of cells 8 of a storage 9 whose number is also memorized by the electronic computer 4. To enable a reduction in the run of the carriage 5, the blanks l are tilted from a horizontal to vertical position to be distributed among the cells 8 of the storage 9, with the cells 8 being disposed on both sides of the longitudinal axis of the mill. The carriage 5 is reciprocating in a transverse direction relative to the longitudinal axis of the mill. Arranged after the storage 9 in the direction of the production process indicated by arrow A is a second similar in design carriage 10 with a tilter.

The carriage 10 receives the blanks 1 fed from the cell 8 of the storage 9 which have been already selected to suit the length, i.e., the blanks l for which the difference in length lies within a pre-set limit and does not exceed 15 mm. The above specified blanks are paired to be delivered accordingly one after another to a conveyor l1.

If the length of the two blanks supplied one after another from the store lies within the pre-set limits, they are conveyed by a signal received from the electronic computer 4 from the roll table 2 to the carriage 5 and then to an intermediate table 12 whereafter they are transmitted to the second carriage l0 and conveyor 11. ln this case the paired sheet metal blanks l by-pass the storage 9. On other occasions a suitable in length counterpart is selected from the blanks placed into the cells 8 of the storage 9 for the blank 1 which has been supplied from the store, and where no such counterpart can be found, the blank I delivered from the store is conveyed to the storage 9, as hereinbefore described. The blanks 1 are delivered from the storage 9 by 11 nal of the electronic computer 4 which compares the length of the blanks in the cells 8 of the storage 9 and determines a pair of the blanks featuring a minimum difference in length. They are delivered to the second carriage l0 and tilted from a vertical to horizontal position.

The paired metal sheet blanks 1 whose length is within the pre-set limits are subjected to further treatment according to a flow sheet universally adopted for the known mills. The treatment comprises the steps of the edge preparation (gouging) of each blank to be effected on a device 13, alternate forming of each blank 1 on a device 14, the assembly in pairs of the formed blanks delivered in succession on a device 15, welding each pair of the blanks into a tube by making two longitudinal welds on a device 16 and trimming the ends of each tube manufactured on the mill with the help of attachments l7 and 18.

With the use of the sheet metal blanks selected to suit the length beforehand, the waste metal in the'form of trimmings will be reduced to a minimum.

What we claim is:

l. A method of producing pipes from sheet metal blanks on a mill, comprising the steps of: feeding successively sheet metal blanks having elongated edges in a progression following each other; measuring the length of each said blank; leaving in the progression pairs of successively fed blanks whose difference in length is less than a preset value; removing from said progression the blanks having no pair blanks in the progression with the difference in lengths less than the preset value; selecting from said progression of successively fed blanks a pair of blanks to each successively fed blank with a difference in lengths less than the preset value and returning said blanks into the progression of blanks; treating the edges for welding of each blank; forming a half-cylinder from each fed blank; assembling t. pipe from a pair of the formed half-cylinder blanks with subsequent welding of edges in the halfcylinder blanks assembled into a pipe; and trimming the edges of the resultant pipes.

,2. A method of claim 1, wherein the difference in lengths of the pair of blanks is less than 15 mm.

3. A method of claim 1, wherein sheet metal blanks removed from said progression are placed edgewise and arranged on both sides from the longitudinal axis ofthe mill. 

1. A method of producing pipes from sheet metal blanks on a mill, comprising the steps of: feeding successively sheet metal blanks having elongated edges in a progression following each other; measuring the length of each said blank; leaving in the progression pairs of successively fed blanks whose difference in length is less than a preset value; removing from said progression the blanks having no pair blanks in the progression with the difference in lengths less than the preset value; selecting from said progression of successively fed blanks a pair of blanks to each successively fed blank with a difference in lengths less than the preset value and returning said blanks into the progression of blanks; treating the edges for welding of each blank; forming a half-cylinder from each fed blank; assembling a pipe from a pair of the formed half-cylinder blanks with subsequent welding of edges in the half-cylinder blanks assembled into a pipe; and trimming the edges of the resultant pipes.
 1. A method of producing pipes from sheet metal blanks on a mill, comprising the steps of: feeding successively sheet metal blanks having elongated edges in a progression following each other; measuring the length of each said blank; leaving in the progression pairs of successively fed blanks whose difference in length is less than a preset value; removing from said progression the blanks having no pair blanks in the progression with the difference in lengths less than the preset value; selecting from said progression of successively fed blanks a pair of blanks to each successively fed blank with a difference in lengths less than the preset value and returning said blanks into the progression of blanks; treating the edges for welding of each blank; forming a half-cylinder from each fed blank; assembling a pipe from a pair of the formed half-cylinder blanks with subsequent welding of edges in the half-cylinder blanks assembled into a pipe; and trimming the edges of the resultant pipes.
 2. A method of claim 1, wherein the difference in lengths of the pair of blanks is less than 15 mm. 